Felons in prison do not receive benefits. Under the “Son of Sam” Law, if you are incarcerated in a state or federal penitentiary for a felony, you cannot receive benefits even if you also are disabled. There are a number of people with psychiatric and physical problems in prison, but since their expenses are paid for, Congress has decided not to allow them to receive their monthly benefits. Congress also has decided that people who are fleeing on open felonies cannot receive benefits. However, there are thousands and thousands of people who were arrested once and their records don’t reflect that the cases were closed or that the fine was paid or that their cases were dismissed. If you were arrested for a felony, you may have to clear that up before being eligible for benefits. We have begun to see many such cases where the records do not reflect what happened in the courthouse but only the initial charges. Having done criminal law for a number of years, it is very common for someone to be charged with a felony that turns out to be not such a serious case after all. We used to call these “paper felonies.” But, if you have a paper felony and the record in the government computer doesn’t reflect that it was resolved, you may have to resolve that in order to receive benefits.